GREEN BAY, Wis. — By the time the Green Bay-San Francisco game kicks off Saturday night, it will
have been seven years, eight months, 20 days and a little more than three hours.

Not that Aaron Rodgers is counting.

The NFC divisional playoff game will be a homecoming of sorts for Rodgers, who grew up three
hours northeast of San Francisco in Chico, Calif. He was a 49ers fan, wearing a Joe Montana T-shirt
underneath his uniform in youth football and later idolizing Steve Young.

But his love affair with the team ended a little more than 71/2 years ago, when San Francisco
passed over Rodgers and used the first pick of the 2005 draft on Alex Smith.

Rodgers eventually was taken by Green Bay with the 24th pick. Since serving as Brett Favre’s
understudy for three seasons, Rodgers has experienced plenty of success, including winning the
Super Bowl after the 2010 season and being named the league’s MVP the next season.

Still, Saturday will be the first time that Rodgers, who played in college at California, has
played an NFL game at Candlestick Park, adding a personal sidebar to a matchup that has a trip to
the NFC Championship Game at stake.

“It will be fun,” Rodgers said this week. “I went to a few baseball games there growing up and
saw a game there when I was in college. It will be loud, it will be a great environment and it
should be a good show for the fans.”

Rodgers and others around him have downplayed thoughts that a game against the 49ers in San
Francisco was somehow more meaningful to him. After all, he has overcome doubters at almost every
stage of his career.

He was overlooked coming out of high school and went to a junior college. When he began at Cal,
he was a backup. Still, being passed over by the 49ers was a glaringly public slight.

Rodgers has faced San Francisco three times at Lambeau Field since becoming Green Bay’s starter
in 2008, winning twice.

“I know Aaron Rodgers clearly understands the importance of quarterback play in a game, and more
importantly in playoff games,” said Packers coach Mike McCarthy, who was an assistant with San
Francisco when the 49ers passed on Rodgers. “I know he’ll particularly be excited to go back to San
Francisco and play in northern California. That’s always exciting for him personally.

“He’s steady. He has been through enough now; I don’t see him overreacting or trying to put more
pressure on himself. He’s a big-time preparation player as far as what he puts into each game, and
that won’t change this week.”

On Saturday, though, he will walk into a stadium he once dreamed of playing in.

“Hopefully, we’ll get a lot of cheese heads from Chico coming down to the game,” he said. “It’ll
be a good test.”